by Kerri Coombs
The stillness of the evening descends upon the town
The factories have gone silent and the pubs have all shut down
I’m sitting in the garden, the grass between my toes
Drinking bootleg moonshine as the day draws to a close
And there’s nowhere that I should be and noone I have to see
All I do is sit and watch the songbirds watching me
And I don’t have to work no more or even step out the door
All I do is wonder how I lived like that before
Oh, don’t you know, when they decide to send for me, I’m not going to go
How clearly I remember the life I had before
Scramblin to rise high enough to look down on the poor
All of us together hustling all the time
Up a ladder that grows twice as fast as anyone can climb
And there’s nowhere that I should be and noone I have to see
All I do is sit and watch the songbirds watching me
And I don’t have to work no more or even step out the door
All I do is wonder how I lived like that before
Oh, don’t you know, when they decide to send for me, I’m not going to go
They can wail, they can moan, they can cling to everything they own
But I’m alright, I won’t bite, I know dawn dispels the darkest night
The landlords are all restless, their fortunes on the wane
Saying never mind the danger, just get back to work again
The more we need your labour, the less we’re going to pay
And the more you sit and watch the birds, the less you will obey
But I don’t have to hear their plea as I sit here so peacefully
I’m not stepping out unless it means something to me
So there’s nowhere that I should be and noone I have to so
I’m content to sit and watch the songbirds watching me
Oh, don’t you know, when they decide to send for me, I’m not going to go
Oh, don’t you know, when they decide to send for me, I’m not going to go